WOODBRIDGE, Va. -- Apparently it was too soon to report that Cheesecake Factory and Bahama Breeze restaurants were coming to the Potomac Mills area.
Posted to Woodbridge Supervisor Frank Principi’s Facebook and Twitter pages this morning was an announcement that both popular restaurant chains were eyeing Woodbridge and could open as early as fall. The posted information, which was reposted to PotomacLocal.com’s social media profiles, had been removed from Principi's Facebook page but remained on his Twitter account Wednesday afternoon.
“While we do have several exciting announcements coming down the pike in the next few weeks, at this point it is a bit premature to provide specifics. We have already spoken with Supervisor Frank Principi's office, and they have retracted the information that was posted,” stated Potomac Mills mall spokeswoman Lauren Horsley.
This article is FREE to read. Please Sign In or Create a FREE Account. Thank you.
WOODBRIDGE, Va. — A driver was robbed while sitting in the driver seat of his car by a man asking for directions, police said.
The robbery took place at the intersection of Telegraph Road and Morse Lane in Woodbridge, behind a Target store, at 9:22 a.m. Tuesday.
The 48-year-old victim stopped to make a turn at the intersection and was then approached by a man who had been sitting in a car parked on the shoulder of the road. The man walked up to the victim and initially asked for directions but then brandished a handgun and demanded cash, according to police documents.
After taking cash, the robber fled the scene. The victim was not injured.
The gunman is described as black, between 28 and 28-years-old, 5 feet 11 inches tall, 160 pounds, with a thin build and brown eyes. He was wearing a light blue jacket and blue jeans, according to police.
WOODBRIDGE, Va. -- The private developer of the 95 Express Lanes project has been tapped by the federal government to apply for a loan to help pay for the lanes.
Transurban-Fluor will convert the High Occupancy Vehicle lanes on Interstate 95, from Dumfries to Edsall Road in Alexandria, to toll lanes. The lanes will be extended from Dumfries to Va. 610 in North Stafford to complete the 29-mile, $940 million 95 Express Lanes corridor.
The loan is called a Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act, or TIFIA loan, from the U.S. Department of Transportation. If awarded to Transurban-Fluor, would cover $928 million of the total cost of the project.
This article is FREE to read. Please Sign In or Create a FREE Account. Thank you.
LAKE RIDGE, Va. — Hungry? The Taste of Lake Ridge will be held once again this year, this time at the Tall Oaks Community Center at 12298 Cotton Mill Drive in Lake Ridge.
Several restaurants are scheduled to be at the event, including Hard Times Café, Tim’s Rivershore, Bungalow Alehouse, Presto Pizza, Sweet Creations by Angie, Guapos, and others.
Restaurants will charge 50 cents per food sample, and sample tickets can be purchased in advance from the Lake Ridge Parks and Recreation Authority.
The event will be held Tuesday May 15, from 4 to 8 p.m.
WINSTON-SALEM, NC – The Winston-Salem Dash overcame a 3-0 Potomac Nationals lead en route to a 6-4 win to take the first two games of a four-game set. The Dash plated two runs in the fifth and four runs in the sixth inning and Leroy Hunt got his second save in as many days.
Both starters were cruising with scoreless outings until the fifth inning. The Nationals LF Kevin Keyes led off the inning with a homer out to deep straight away left field off of Dash starter LHP Spencer Arroyo. The line shot almost hit a dog on the grass on “Dog Day” at BB&T Ballpark. The P-Nats scored again on a fielders choice by Blake Kelso that scored Francisco Soriano to extend the lead to 2-0. On a double steal by Kelso and Randolph Oduber, the throw from catcher Mike Blanke ended up in center field which scored Oduber and Potomac led 3-0.
Potomac starter RHP Kyle Winters was cruising too until the bottom half of the fifth. The Dash got a bunt single from Nick Ciolli, a misplayed pop up ended up with Marcus Semien reaching on a single and a seeing eye hit from Jake Oester loaded the bases for Winston-Salem with one out. Daniel Wagner laced a single right passed Winters head into center to score Ciolli and Semien to bring the Dash within 3-2.
WOODBRIDGE, Va. – Timothy Kaine will be in Triangle and Woodbridge today taking about the economy.
The former Democratic Virginia governor turned U.S. Senate candidate will stop at Group W, Inc. at 10:30 a.m. to speak with employees about their experience with the federal procurement process.
At 12:30 p.m., Kaine will head north on U.S. 1 to The Palace Bar and Grill for a roundtable discussion with Latino bossiness owners in Woodbridge. That discussion will include workforce development and immigration reform issues, according to Kaine campaign staffers.
Kaine faces Republican George Allen and TEA Party candidate Jamie Radke in the General Election this fall.
WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Prince William’s new kid on the political block has done more to distance himself from this fellow Board members.
Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland is serving his first term on the Board of County Supervisors and cast the lone vote against raising the county’s average tax bill about $110 per year. The six seven other members of the Board voted to increase taxes for the Fiscal Year 2013 budget, adopting a tax rate of $1.209 per assessed property value. The new budget includes monies for a new police station, new school funding, and raises for county staff for the first time in four years.
Candland, in a statement released late Tuesday night, accused fellow Board members of back room dealings and threats. According to Candland, he was told if he didn’t go along with the budget increase his district would lose out on construction funding for a new Catharpin Park. That park, one of nine that was to be funded in this year’s budget, is no longer funded, he said.
“I stood up in the face of backroom deals and political retributions to fight for a park that’s critical to the families of the Gainesville District, and I’ll continue to push to find ways to get Catharpin Park funded and built as soon as possible. I’m saddened that petty politics won the day, but it’s the taxpayers of Prince William County who will suffer the brunt of these tax increases,” said Candland in his statement.
County officials stated Tuesday that real estate taxes in Prince William County are 28 percent lower than they are in similar counties in Northern Virginia. When adjusted for inflation, the average tax bill is lower than it was in 2009, according to officials.
For commuters in Northern Virginia, there are several different options of transportation available. People who work in Washington or surrounding areas can choose between different bus lines, Metro, Virginia Railway Express, or they may choose to carpool or Slug.
Slug lines are often located along commuter bus routes or near Metro stations, as the bus or Metro can serve as an alternative when Slug rides are scarce. In order to get to certain Slug or bus lines, sometimes commuters may have to ride a couple of stops on Metro, of which I am not a huge fan.
Everything about Metro tends to infuriate me. Just last night the system had a minor derailment causing delays for hundreds of commuters. I could be having the best day of my life, laughing and skipping around town, and Metro has the power to take the wind right out of my sails.
First of all, I have yet to spend a day commuting where everything in my Metro station is fully operational – there is always at least one broken escalator, sometimes down for months at a time, or the elevators are out of order, or the electronic sign that displays train arrival times isn’t working, or the train is malfunctioning and delayed. It never fails – there’s always something.
Not to mention the tourists who stand on the left side of the escalator, ignorant of the “stand on the right, pass on the left” rule understood amongst those who use Metro regularly. They all seem to be perpetually lost and blocking traffic, wearing their matching t-shirts and fanny packs as they cautiously study the colorful Metro system map.
Then, there are the teenagers, out for a good time with friends after school, sometimes completely harmless, but other times downright obscene and seemingly oblivious of other passengers. Even other commuters can be a source of frustration; with everyone wanting to board immediately during rush hour, as opposed to waiting four minutes for the next train, there tends to be some crowding and shoving as people hurry home in the evening. Funny, considering no one seems to be in such a hurry to get to work during the morning commute.
And these are just a few of the challenges we face in attempting to Metro just a stop or two to the Pentagon or other Downtown Slug lines or buses. After all that, the last thing I want to find is a line of 3,495,873 people waiting in the same line that I need to get home.
Do I sound bitter? Maybe. I guess sometimes a long or difficult commute can make anyone feel that way. I find it almost unbelievable that it can take so much time and energy to get home, when home is only 30 miles or so away.
Slugging is a fairly easy and convenient system overall, and the best part is, it’s free! Still, there can be obstacles along the way, so as a commuter, it’s important to be aware of all the options that are available in order to choose which method works best for you.
STAFFORD, Va. -- A child found in a Stafford retention pond drowned Monday afternoon.
The 11-year-old boy was found by a passerby who was walking in the area of Snow Drive Landmark Road off U.S. 1 about 4:47 p.m. The passerby pulled the child from the pond and performed CPR on him until emergency crews arrived on scene and took over, said Stafford sheriff’s spokesman Bill Kennedy.
The child was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
This article is FREE to read. Please Sign In or Create a FREE Account. Thank you.
By CINDY BROOKSHIRE
For PotomacLocal.com
Haymarket author June Pair Kilpatrick is celebrating her 80th birthday this spring with the best present ever – the debut of her first published book.
“Now my granddaughter, who wants to show the book to her classmates, can do that before she graduates from high school,” she said.
June is the author of “Wasps in the Bedroom, Butter in the Well: Growing Up in the Great Depression,” (Inkwater Press, Portland, Oregon). The book is available in print, 318 pages with 40 photographs, $16.95 or Kindle eBook, $5.99, through Inkwater Press, Amazon.com or BarnesandNoble.com.
A lifelong Virginian who earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Richmond’s Westhampton College, June spent much of her career as a writer and editor for nonprofits in Richmond and Northern Virginia. For eight years she was consulting writer for the Business Council, a Washington, DC-based association of 150 CEOs of the world’s top business enterprises. Historically, the Council assisted in the nation’s recovery from the Great Depression.
But it wasn’t until after June and her husband Fritz retired to the Evergreen Farm community at the foot of Bull Run Mountain that she began to think of writing her own family’s Depression-era experiences. In 1934, living in the industrial town of Hopewell, Virginia, her parents lost everything when unionizers caused a violent confrontation at the rayon mill. After a night raid that destroyed the machinery, 1,858 jobs were gone.
“We moved from house to house and town to town, out in the country where we lit lamps with matches and used an outhouse,” June recalls. “We had a roof over our heads, unlike many, but one of my vivid memories of childhood was the wasps that squeezed in through the gaps in the siding… and sometimes, the butter had to be kept cold in a bucket dropped in the well.”
Two years ago, June took her manuscript to the Memoir Writers group at Bull Run Regional Library for feedback and support. Over time, they quelled her doubts:
“And so as I write…a question occurs to me: Who but my daughter, Rebecca, would be interested in my ordinary life?…in Granny June Bug’s early life?…most likely my story, my memories, will be only for myself.”
On Sunday, May 6, June Kilpatrick debuts her book in a big way at Arts Alive! 2012, a free, family-friendly, festival celebrating the local arts from noon to 6 p.m. at the Hylton Performing Arts Center on the Prince William Campus of George Mason University in Manassas. The event, presented by the Hylton Center and the Prince William County Arts Council, features 18 live performances on three stages, indoors and out, with visual art on display and for sale, as well as presentation of the 2012 Kathleen K. Seefeldt Awards for Arts Excellence at 2:30 p.m. Event sponsors include United Bank and Discover Prince William & Manassas. A complete schedule of performers is at pwcartscouncil.org.
There, June will join seven other local members of the Facebook networking group, Write by the Rails, in the Lovey Hammel Lounge: Dan Verner, Sheila Lamb and Cindy Brookshire of Manassas, Katherine Gotthardt and Carol Covin of Bristow and Marvin Josaitis and Leigh Giza of Gainesville. Besides readings and book signings, event-goers are welcome to participate in writing exercises and bring their own poetry and prose to share at open mic times throughout the afternoon.
